While he was the favourite for the event, it was an encouraging result for van Gisbergen after he failed to finish in San Diego last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was certainly pissed at the beginning of the week but this well and truly makes up for it, pretty special to win,\u201d van Gisbergen said following the race.<\/p>\n
He admits it was a hard-fought win as his Trackhouse Racing car started to struggle with tyres.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had these s***-boxes come out in front and they were wobbling all over the track and putting dust [up] and I just kept struggling. Chase [Briscoe] was really good and a couple more laps, we would have had some problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is van Gisbergen\u2019s second win of the season and fourth top-five finish.<\/p>\n
He won in New York in May.<\/p>\n
The win moves him up three places into 14th position in the championship and inside the top 16 who will contest the playoff series at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
However he\u2019s not feeling secure about repeating his feat from last year, when he clinched a place in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really need to step it up on the ovals but it certainly helps us. This is an ovals championship and I certainly need to get better at them.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are another eight races before the playoffs, known as The Chase. They are all ovals circuits.<\/p>\n
Sonoma was also the first race in the Nascar in-season challenge where all 32 drivers go head-to-head with another driver over five consecutive race weekends through a single-elimination bracket with a US$1 million ($1.7m) payday for the winner.<\/p>\n
The next round is in Chicago next weekend.<\/p>\n